After more than four months with various social distancing levels, my city is finally opening their doors. My family and I have finally gotten two doses of the vaccine. We have to wait at least two weeks before any outside activity, even an exercise walk in the morning. And, a few more weeks to slowly make things back to normal.
Fifteen out of more than 20 months of closing the border, Vietnam had zero covid death. It was hard to imagine how there could be 410K positive cases detected in communities starting from three. Despite the most stringent policies, the number of infections did not go down with thousands of cases every day. The shortage of vaccines was very limited and the government had to urgently ask for international help several times. Economy was being hurt very badly. People were living with conflicts, stress and anxiety about an uncertain future.
It has been two years since the beginning of BlueSkin. I joined a growth hacking event in a social impact hub of Geneva. It was during an amidst of another movement that urged government commitment for fighting against climate change. For months, I had been trying to recruit people and call for actions as a scientist and environment enthusiast. As we learnt, nothing happened. In that desperation, I told myself -- let’s do it in the Silicon Valley way so, forget VR/AR and imagination. Just start by trying everything I had at that present with the healthcare industry. This is where the cost of making a mistake is so catastrophic that people would talk about prevention, protection and early intervention more than anything else. To me, it would be much easier to tell people about cancer - the number 1 deadly disease in the West - rather than a prediction that a third of my country would be under the sea or dying polar bears.
The future is coming to us much faster than I could even predict. It was not decades in scientists’ prediction or 5-10 years in my own vision. It happened right after I started a company. A red map of wildfires in Australia turned into a red map of COVID-19 in just a month.
And everything I could foresee with cancer and a whole collapse of the economy and financial system was played out in a small-scale version of the covid-19 pandemic. And if the lessons were not powerful enough, we have Delta variants to remind us of what we should do.
However, when the critical moment came, I could not make things work. I am not the only one. A systematic report of 100 plus AI tools got the same conclusion. Forget about all hype made by floating marketing content on the internet and social media. The truth is we don’t need AI, but we need better data and a sharing platform. This is a whole different perspective.
Misinformation and disinformation because another infodemic on social media. Negative and fake news spread even faster and wider than trustworthy sources from authorities and domain experts. Echo chamber is so powerful that it attacks vulnerable minds.
Everyday waking up and watching the news, I always ask myself what kind of thing I can do to change situation. I had to accept a few hard things. This situation with social distancing and lock down policies. Covid-19 will stay with us much longer than we would expect. Unknown of another more dangerous deadly variant of nCOV, which Delta is an example. Unprecedented weather like wildfire, drought and storms. In 2020, Laura was a part of a twin storm, then in 2021, Ida became the most historic storm ever recorded in the East Coast. Burning California was supercharged by thunderstorms with less and less water but thunder.
Unlike several people coming to a startup, I came to the community, well several communities, at a very low starting point. I did not have any fantasy of becoming somebody or to win any prizes. Just there because I enjoy a set of challenges and unpredictable nature of startup - a super interesting place for me to come, join and learn. Because I am not able to travel, the internet became my home again.
I have left the research community for a while and entered deeply into the startup community in Silicon Valley. Using interactions and my own expert domain that helps me paint the right story. I personally have very little faith in stories on news, media and social media. Most of the time, those weren’t incorrect, so I had to do my own homework by bouncing around the UK and Switzerland. I moved to Canada and joined conversations with VC, scholars, and community, especially as a mentor of AI4Good (2nd time). I joined a handful of meetings in YC, Launch, Pioneer meetings and AMA sessions along with a few conferences, especially from TechCrunch.
We are living in the most exciting period ever in human history. With the rise of a new generation of technologies. AI is becoming a part of our lives. Space travel is commercial and the internet is everywhere. But probably I don’t have to be an astronaut to feel what it is like with a working schedule at midnight. Lives in two different time zones between Vietnam and the Pacific Coast. People woke up, but I went to bed. When I woke up, it was always at midnight. Sometimes when I look at the outside world, it is a vast space of darkness. Floating on consecutive waves of uncertainty, I feel like an astronaut staying in a closed box.
I was finally able to set up a company after four months waiting for the IRS. It was supposed to be two weeks. However, a lag of communication and a prolonged situation dragged me down. Eventually I had to pivot, the first time, then the second time and third time. Until last year, I suffered from stress and anxiety that I could not do anything else. I kept burning out over and over again.
In another effort, I shifted time to write more, especially with a book about Augmented Intelligence. I got stuck for years trying to find a narrative that closes a gap of understanding about soft topics about humans. However, this social crisis and personal struggle turned me into another expedition of the inner world. I found a bunch of ancient religion, cultural ritual plus some modern science from both the East and the West. Some of them pass the test of time and exist up to thousands of years. Stoicism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christian, Zen. Name a few.
Then I ended up with a practice which is traced back to every corner of society both East and West. Both the ancient and the modern. And also back by science.
It’s gratitude.